Editing United Nations Global Compact (section)

{{Short description|Non-binding United Nations pact}}
{{distinguish|Global Compact for Migration}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{use British English|date=January 2018}}
{{Infobox organization
| image         = File:UN Global Compact logo.svg
| image_size    = 
| name = UN Global Compact
| map =
| map_caption =
| type = Framework and Mechanism
| leader_title  = Head
| leader_name = Sanda Ojiambo, CEO & Executive Director<ref>{{cite web |title=Assistant Secretary-General and CEO of the United Nations Global Compact {{!}} UN Global Compact |url=https://unglobalcompact.org/about/governance/asg-ceo |website=unglobalcompact.org |access-date=17 July 2023}}</ref><ref name="0R">{{cite web| url=https://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/tea/news/east-africa/kenyan-sanda-ojiambo-un-global-compact-3790580 |title=Kenyan Sanda Ojiambo gets top job at UN Global Compact |date=22 April 2022 | work=[[The EastAfrican]] |author=Anita Chepkoech |access-date=23 April 2022 |location=Nairobi, Kenya}}</ref>
| status = Active
| formation = 26 July 2000
| website = [http://www.unglobalcompact.org unglobalcompact.org]
| parent_organization =
| subsidiaries =
| footnotes =
}}

The '''United Nations Global Compact''' is a non-binding [[United Nations]] pact to get businesses and firms worldwide to adopt sustainable and [[corporate social responsibility|socially responsible]] policies, and to report on their implementation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Business Application {{!}} UN Global Compact |url=https://unglobalcompact.org/participation/join/application/business |access-date=2023-02-19 |website=unglobalcompact.org}}</ref>  The UN Global Compact is the world's largest [[corporate sustainability]] and corporate social responsibility initiative, with more than 20,000 corporate participants and other stakeholders in over 167 countries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Business Application {{!}} UN Global Compact|url=https://www.unglobalcompact.org}}</ref> 
The organization consists of a global agency, and local "networks" or agencies for each participating country. Under the Global Compact, companies are brought together with UN agencies, labour groups and civil society. 

The UN Global Compact is a principle-based framework for businesses, stating ten principles in the areas of ''human rights'', ''labour'', ''the environment'' and ''anti-corruption''. 
The  declared objectives of the participants and stakeholders are to  "mainstream the ten principles in business activities around the world" and to "catalyse actions in support of broader UN goals, such as the [[Millennium Development Goals]] (MDGs) and [[Sustainable Development Goals|Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)]]".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unglobalcompact.org/AboutTheGC/index.html|title=About the UN Global Compact |website= UN Global Compact}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.unglobalcompact.org/news/1521-12-08-2014|title = Major Companies to Help Set the Stage for Ambitious Climate Agreement in 2015 |date=  8 December 2014 |first=Kristen |last=Coco |website=UN Global Compact }}</ref> The organization solicits commitments to specific sustainability and social responsibility goals from CEOs and highest-level executives, and in turn offers training, peer-networks and a functional framework for responsibility,<ref name="Fussler">{{cite book |last1=Fussler |first1=Claude |last2=Cramer |first2=Aron |last3=Vegt |first3=Sebastian van der |title=Raising the Bar: Creating Value with the UN Global Compact |date=8 September 2017 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-28090-7 |pages=53–63 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GKo0DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |language=en}}</ref> taking a "learning model" for corporate change, rather than a regulatory one.<ref name="Ruggie">{{cite journal |last1=Ruggie |first1=John Gerard |title=Global_governance.net: the global compact as learning network |journal=Global Governance |date=2001 |volume=7 |issue=4 |pages=371–378 |doi=10.1163/19426720-00704003 |jstor=27800311 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/27800311 |issn=1075-2846|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The UN Global Compact was announced by UN Secretary-General [[Kofi Annan]] in an address to the [[World Economic Forum]] on 31 January 1999<ref name="Kell">{{cite journal |last1=Kell |first1=Georg |title=The Global Compact Selected Experiences and Reflections |journal=Journal of Business Ethics |date=2005 |volume=59 |issue=1/2 |pages=69–79 |doi=10.1007/s10551-005-3413-0 |jstor=25123541 |s2cid=154572146 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25123541 |issn=0167-4544|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Williams">{{cite book |last1=Williams |first1=Oliver F. |title=Leadership and Business Ethics |chapter=The United Nations Global Compact: What Did It Promise? |series=Issues in Business Ethics |date=2022 |volume=60 |pages=327–343 |doi=10.1007/978-94-024-2111-8_20 |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-024-2111-8_20 |publisher=Springer Netherlands |isbn=978-94-024-2110-1 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.un.org/press/en/1999/19990201.sgsm6881.html|title=Secretary-General proposes global compact on human rights, labour, environment, in address to World Economic Forum in Davos - Meetings Coverage and Press Releases |date=1 February 1999 |website= United Nations}}</ref> and was officially launched at [[UN Headquarters]] in New York City on 26 July 2000. The '''Global Compact Office''' works on the basis of a mandate set out by the [[United Nations General Assembly|UN General Assembly]] as an organization that "promotes responsible business practices and UN values among the global business community and the [[United Nations System|UN System]]".<ref name="McWilliams">{{cite book |last1=McWilliams |first1=Abagail |last2=Rupp |first2=Deborah E. |last3=Siegel |first3=Donald S. |last4=Stahl |first4=Günter |last5=Waldman |first5=David A. |title=The Oxford Handbook of Corporate Social Responsibility: Psychological and Organizational Perspectives |date=24 October 2019 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-880228-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E5SzDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA264 |language=en}}</ref> The UN Global Compact is a founding member of the United Nations [[Sustainable Stock Exchanges Initiative|Sustainable Stock Exchanges (SSE) initiative]] along with the [[Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI)]], the [[United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative|United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative (UNEP-FI)]], and the [[United Nations Conference on Trade and Development|United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)]].